PUTNAM, CONN. — The 1987 GMC Sierra towing Eagle Scout Troop 132’s “Spirit of ’76” parade float has remained parked diagonally across two spaces of Main Street since the morning of July 5, a placement local merchants describe as “fine, mostly,” and which has now persisted long enough that Tuesday’s farmers market simply set up around it.
The float, built by Putnam resident Doug Reems over the course of three weekends, features a papier-mâché Liberty Bell, a hand-painted bald eagle whose right eye has migrated, and the words FREEDOM RINGS spelled out in red Solo cups, six of which have blown loose. Reems has acknowledged ownership of the trailer and has stated, repeatedly and without urgency, that he intends to come get it.
Sergeant Bill Hovey of the Putnam Police Department confirmed that no citation has been issued, citing what he described as “the parade exemption window,” a policy he was unable to produce on paper but said he was “pretty sure” extended through the second weekend in July. Hovey added that the trailer was technically obstructing a fire hydrant but noted that the hydrant was already painted to match the float.
The papier-mâché Liberty Bell has been rained on twice since Tuesday and now resembles, according to multiple downtown employees, “a brain.” A photograph of the bell has begun circulating on the Putnam Patch Facebook page, where reactions have ranged from “love this town” to “this is exactly what’s wrong.”
Doreen Hatch, who has waited tables at the Vanilla Bean Cafe for nineteen years, said the float had become “the easiest way to give directions” and that she had told three different out-of-towners on Friday alone to “turn left at the eagle.” She declined to characterize the eagle further.
Reems, reached by phone Saturday morning, said he would be by “after lunch” to retrieve the trailer, an arrangement he had also disclosed on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. He said his back has been bothering him and that the hitch is “a project.”
Town selectman Marie Cousineau said she did not believe any formal action would be necessary and that the float would, in her experience, “go when it goes.” She noted that the 2019 Memorial Day float had also remained on Main Street for eleven days before being quietly absorbed into a yard sale.
As of press time, the Solo cups spelling FREEDOM had lost their second O, leaving the float to read FREED M RINGS, a development Reems said he would address “when he was already down there anyway.”